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Small Business: CBI gives companies voice at the top

Join the club: Britains businesses are represented by several bodies that lobby on their behalf. But are they just for big companies or are there benefits for small firms too? In a four-part series, starting today with the CBI, Rachel Bridge takes an in-depth look at business organisations and asks what they can do for you

PEOPLE say you should never judge a book by its cover, and in the case of the CBI this is particularly true. The site of its headquarters in central London is said to be cursed because it is built on the spot where a gallows once stood.

Indeed Sir John Methven, the director-general who arranged the CBI’s move to the Centre Point building in 1980, never made it there himself. Tragically, he died after a routine cartilage operation two months before the CBI moved in.

Happily, the CBI’s fortunes have not suffered the same fate. During the Thatcher years it was largely sidelined because it was seen as being old-style corporatist, but it now plays an active part in shaping Britain’s business agenda.

What is the CBI?

The Confederation of British Industry was founded in 1965 as a non-profit, non-party-political organisation funded by members’ subscriptions. It was set up to